ThinkOutLoud

WHEN John Swinney offered Scotland his latest budget, we at TaxpayerScotland were slightly baffled to see the line item entry for its Fiscal Commission set at zero. That no funding had been allocated for the much vaunted ...

THE ANNUAL publication of the GERS figures (Government Expenditure & Revenue in Scotland – nothing to do with Dave King) was a source of regular excitement in the years preceding last September’s independence referendum. As the closest we have to ...

Due to circumstances entirely within my control, I’ve decided I’d rather not write about attending the Scottish Conservative conference last week. Instead I’ve turned the job over to my (never previously mentioned) associate Fitzroy Prince, who insists the following timeline ...

IF LORD ASHCROFT, YouGov and other polling companies are to be believed then maybe all the other Scottish political parties should just give up now. We’ve now had a series of polls suggesting the SNP are set to run rampant ...

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY was one of my favourite subjects at school. Part of that was probably the conversations my friend and I had with the teacher about how to make napalm (The wonders of private education), but much of it came ...

IN THE HEADY, ecosocialist mix of British politics today all the talk is still about greening the economy, creating jobs and, increasingly, promoting offshore wind as the way forward. Nuclear is nasty, coal is nasty and now even wind turbines ...

THE PRINCIPAL comments against Ched Evans, the former Sheffield United footballer who’s been released on licence after serving two and half years after being convicted of rape, are that he should never kick another football again. That he will be ...

WITH 2014 over and 2015 well under way it’s that time when awards can be dished out before the Oscars dominates the scene. So welcome to the JC Awards for 2014. All the awards were carefully chosen by a panel ...

ORDINARY PEOPLE, especially “the poor” are now being insulted openly in a repulsive shift away from the atavistic private mutterings of those who consider themselves “their betters” for reasons known only to themselves. Recent ugly outbursts included ...

ONE OF the current fascinations about Scottish politics is the war between the SNP and Labour about who will become the true champion of the Left. Given the early signs in the Sturgeon government, Labour looks as ...